What:

Storytelling:
Roger Shank says that "human memory is story-based". Stories, according to the research in artificial intelligence, are fundamental to how people learn and organize what they know. Research also seems to indicate that we organize knowledge by storytelling. (Diane Haugen).
Digital Storytelling: The modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving
images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences and insights. You can now tell your story digitally!

Why:

*Promotes the writing process (narrative story)
*Delivers a cross curricular project
*Addresses a variety of technology skills
*Motivates students
*Relevance to real world settings
*Products show body of knowledge gained

How:

*Response to literature
*Character study
*Historical account
*Lab report
*Alternative to research paper
*Record of a class trip
*Parent night
*Illustrate poetry
*Rules & Safety messages
*Get to know the school staff
*Number stories
*Letters of the alphabet
*Retell myths and legends
*Present a topic study
*Illustrate a technology process
*Science inquiry
*And more!!!

Steps:

1. Define the purpose of the project.
2. Align projects goals and objectives with local curriculum and tech standards.
3. Create a storyboard mapping out the flow of content.
4. Collect and store the media (images, music, etc.) in a centralized location. (By teacher and/or student)
5. Edit media to better adapt to the storyboard.
6. Import media into Photostory.
7. Arrange the media to follow the storyboard.
8. Compose and edit ideas and dialogs. You can type notes to aid your memory as your narrate an image.
9. Record necessary narrations.
10. Customize slides with transitions and special effects.
11. Wrap-up project by making final revisions.
12. Save story as wmv. for presentation
13. Student is ready to present their digital story
14. Teacher evaluates each digital story through the use of rubrics and/or checklists.
15. Student self appraises work.